The Winds of Khalakovo loa-1 Read online

  “Perhaps if you spoke with young Khalakovo, away from prying ears.”

  Atiana did not look at Ivan. She knew that this was as much for his ears as it was for hers. “And just how would I do that?” she asked, providing the requisite nibble on the bait.

  Mileva shrugged. “There are hidden hallways in Radiskoye, are there not, as there are in Galostina? I would even wager that Zvayodensk has a tunnel or two hidden away from curious eyes.”

  Ivan blushed again, playing a pitiful, off-suited card.

  “Perhaps,” Ishkyna said, playing a high trump, “but who will be left to tread them?”

  As Mileva played her final card, winning the trick and the hand, Ivan’s face changed. Instead of a deep red, his face went white. After staring at the table for a time, meeting no one’s eyes, he stood, bowed, and without a single word strode away.

  “Really, Shkyna,” Atiana said. “The boy has just lost a dozen in his family, and dozens more countrymen.”

  “And we lost two cousins and a ship only a month ago. That is life among the islands. The sooner Ivan learns that, the better off he’ll be.”

  Atiana raked in the cards and tumbled them into the deck, unable to deny the truth in her sister’s words. When she was young she had been heartbroken at the frequent deaths in the family, but she had soon learned to put such things in perspective. She realized, too, that Ishkyna had played Ivan well. He was angry now, and would probably tell others what the sisters had brewing. It would no doubt come back to Father, and then he would expect that she would have already gone to question Nikandr.

  But she didn’t care if she was being manipulated by her sisters or if her father would have expectations. She wanted to see Nikandr. So late that night she demanded a simple dress of one of their servants. She donned it and left her bedroom to the sounds of whispering from her sisters. She held a small, unlit lamp in one hand even though there were whale oil lamps set on ornate marble tables along the hallway. The passageway to her left led to Radiskoye proper-the most obvious way to reach Nikandr, and also the most watched. She turned instead to her right and padded down the hall until she reached another, smaller hallway where Father and the other dukes were housed. She came to a small linen closet and opened it. After stepping inside, she felt among the shelves of sheets and pillow cases for the catch Mileva had assured her was there. She found it at the back of the bottommost shelf. It clicked and the entire rear of the closet creaked backward at her touch.

  After lighting her small lamp, she entered the secret passage. Stairs immediately took her downward. She guessed it to be two stories, perhaps more. It was difficult to tell with no landmarks to guide her. She reached the bottom, and by the flickering light of her lamp she could see a narrow stone tunnel running to the right. She followed it, holding her arms tight to her side, partly because of the cramped space and partly because of the horrible draft. Her lamp was equipped with a glass shield, but it still guttered and threatened to go out if Atiana moved too quickly.

  She tried to retain her sense of direction, but the tunnel took several turns, and none of them at right angles to one another, and so soon she had no idea where she was going. She finally reached a fork in the passage, and was forced to stop. Mileva hadn’t mentioned such a thing, and so she had no idea which one she should take. What if there were more? What if she got lost in these tunnels and never found her way out again? Who knew how extensive they were? Radiskoye was among the largest of the palotzas; she might find herself caught in a place from which no amount of screaming would rescue her.

  She took the right-hand fork, vowing that she would head back if she came across any more. But after another, she told herself that she could find her way back as long as she consistently chose one direction to follow. It happened a third time, and still Atiana went on, taking several flights of stairs upward.

  Thankfully this tunnel came to an end.

  She searched for a latch and eventually found it. On the other side was the rear of a similar closet within the bath house. One large pool was set into the floor here, and another smaller one, for children, lay beyond it. She had been here a few times and knew that it lay two levels below the floor where the Khalakovos slept. She was nearly there.

  She padded to the bath house door and opened it slowly. The hallway was empty, so she left the bathhouse and walked to the main stairwell serving this wing of the palotza. She took it two levels up.

  And stopped.

  For sitting on a bench was a large black rook. It watched her closely with intelligent eyes, and by the time she had taken two steps forward, she knew that Saphia had assumed the bird, and that she had been found sneaking about like a thief in the night.

  CHAPTER 22

  “How may I serve, Matra?” Atiana asked.

  The rook emitted several clicking sounds before speaking. “Have the hallways of Radiskoye so caught your interest”-it clicked again-“that you must skulk among them while the sky lays dark?”

  “ Nyet, Matra.”

  “Another reason, then…”

  “I only thought…”

  The rook cawed. “Go on.”

  “I wished to speak with your son, to apologize to him.”

  “ Apologize?”

  “For my actions the other night. For besting him at our dance.” It wasn’t a lie, exactly, but it was the only thing she could think of.

  The rook cawed again, and to Atiana it sounded like a laugh. “There’s little enough for you to apologize for. You held your own, child, which is more than I can say for Nikandr.”

  “He did very well, Matra. I practiced that one dance for weeks before coming here.”

  “To show him you were better.”

  Atiana pulled herself taller. “To show him I would not stand in his shadow, but at his side.”

  The rook was motionless for a time, staring. “As it should be.”

  Atiana suppressed a small smile. “As you say, Matra.”

  “You asked how you may serve…”

  For the first time Atiana realized there was more to this meeting than had at first met the eye. “Of course, Matra.”

  Footsteps echoed from down the hallway, and out of the gloom stepped Isaak, the palotza’s seneschal, holding a large, unlit lantern and wearing thick winter night clothes.

  “You can accompany Isaak to the drowning chamber.”

  Isaak bowed his head and held out a night coat as the rook flapped up to his shoulder.

  With no small amount of trepidation, Atiana accepted it and pulled it over her chilled frame. She walked the cavernous halls of Radiskoye with Isaak, their footsteps echoing off into the immensity of the palotza. The old chancellor said nothing the entire way, the Matra sitting on his shoulder.

  When Atiana had last spoken to the Matra, they had discussed her abilities in the dark and the need for someone to take up the slack where Yvanna could not. Surely she didn’t mean for Atiana to begin now. It must be something the Matra wanted kept secret, something that needed to be told directly.

  Her dread increased the lower they went, and by the time they crossed the colonnade near the base of the towering black spire, her heart was pounding in her chest, and it was all she could do not to turn and run.

  Finally, after reaching the antechamber at the bottom of the interminable stairwell, Isaak knocked thrice upon the imposing iron doors and led Atiana into the drowning chamber.

  If the stairwell was chilly, the chamber was positively frigid. It began seeping through Atiana’s clothes the moment she stepped in. As bitter as the memories were, she remembered her training-while her whole being wanted to tighten, she needed instead to relax.

  Saphia sat in the stout chair near the fire-though not too near. A servant woman-an aging, gray matron-fussed around the Matra, fixing the blanket just so while the rook alighted from Isaak’s shoulder and flew to the golden perch standing behind the Matra.

  This was another subtle indicator of Saphia’s prowess with the aether. No other Matra co
uld assume the form of an animal while outside of the drowning basin. Saphia, if reports were to be believed, could do so for hours after leaving it, and it made Atiana wonder what other powers she might have that no one knew about.

  Suddenly the rook began cawing and beating its wings furiously, an indicator that Saphia had returned to herself.

  Atiana kneeled and bowed her head. “How may I serve, Matra?”

  The Matra sipped from a thick, earthenware mug and worked her mouth before speaking. “Rise, child. What I need is trifling, though you may not think it so easy to give.”

  Atiana stood, her head still bowed. “What I have is yours.”

  A smile spread across Saphia’s skeletal face as she raised the mug to her lips and sipped noisily. “We shall see soon enough.” Her hands shook, as did her head when not in direct contact with the mug, but her eyes were bright and spry. “Victania is unavailable, and Yvanna’s inability has grown worse since our last talk. I need rest, child. I have not slept properly in weeks, and it is taking its toll. Take the dark. Watch over our island for a time, and that will be enough.”

  “Forgive me, Matra, but my father has said the marriage is in doubt.”

  “You’re near enough to a Khalakovo, child.”

  “But Father-”

  “You think the men will halt a wedding their Matri have arranged? Not likely. Not while your mother and I live. They may scratch and they may claw, but you will be married. Be sure of that. Besides, your inclusion in this family has nothing to do with it. A Matra can choose who she will. Is it not so?”

  “It is so, but shouldn’t Victania-”

  “I told you she is unavailable.” Atiana thought Saphia would tell her to simply suck in her gut and prepare herself, but she did not. She stared at Atiana while the fire lit one side of her face in a ruddy glow. “You are afraid.”

  It was not a question.

  “I will do it, Matra, if it will give you rest.”

  Saphia continued to stare, the hollows of her eyes like black pits. “I lied to you the other day,”she said,“or at least I didn’t share with you the whole truth. The Matri always discuss those that will be allowed to take the dark. It was decided years ago that you and your sisters were too much of a risk to be allowed to ride the currents.”

  Atiana tried not to let her surprise show. “And what, may I ask, changed your minds?”

  “I should think the answer was obvious.”

  And of course, it was. The dark, for whatever reason, was becoming progressively harder to control. Though the aether flowed over the seas, over the entire world, in chaotic currents, the islands grounded it, creating natural channels through which the aether could flow. It was still too wild to be used without further refinement, however. The spires allowed the Matri, collectively, to guide the flow of aether between the archipelagos. Without them, ships would be lost among the winds, their keels useless among the fickle currents.

  But just like everything else on the islands, the aether had become unpredictable. The Matri had had to work harder to control the currents, which was the main reason that those weaker in the craft were practically useless, and masters like Saphia were taxed more heavily each time they took the dark. Most believed the blight to be a drought that would one day pass, but Atiana wasn’t so sure. What if it never passed? Or passed so many years from now that it made little difference? What would become of the Duchies of Anuskaya? Would they be forced to live only among their own archipelagos, forgoing the dangerous flights to the farther islands? How many would die from starvation as conditions worsened and they were cut off from trade?

  “If it’s a simple matter of ability,” Atiana said, “then Ishkyna or Mileva would do better. They seemed to enjoy it.”

  “Ishkyna is an unbroken filly, always trying to prove herself, always pulling at her reins. And Mileva is too cunning for her own good.”

  “Which leaves me.”

  “Which is no small matter. Take the dark, child. The Matri will guide you, as they have in the past. There is little to fear now that the winds are calm.”

  “Mother says there is always something to fear in the dark.”

  Saphia began to laugh, splashing tea over the shawl on her lap. The servant came quickly with a napkin and dabbed the wet spots, making sure to send a wicked glance in Atiana’s direction while doing so.

  “This is another reason I think you’re ready. You recognize the need for balance-hold the reins too tightly, and the aether will fight you; loosen them overly much, and it will trample you roughshod.”

  Atiana stood there, cold and perfectly unwilling to become colder, but also out of reasons not to. “Very well,” she finally said.

  Atiana knew she was no fledgling needing protection from the cold, but the abilities of the drowning basin to steal warmth was something even the stoutest of women could not prepare for, and so when she stripped she was-despite the nearby fire-already shivering, and as the servant woman spread the rendered goat’s fat over her arms and breasts and stomach, it grew worse.

  “Control yourself,” Saphia snapped, “or you’ll fail before you’ve dipped one toe into the basin. The storms have been strong of late, but if you keep to the spires, they will guide you.”

  Atiana nodded.

  “And remember what you see, Atiana Radieva. It is important.”

  And with those words came some amount of control. Nerves calmed. Muscles relaxed. Blood flowed more freely, and finally she was able to control the shivering to a degree.

  She stepped to the edge of the basin-now empty-as the servant woman pulled a lever on the wall. Water from the mountain’s internal streams flowed through a channel and began filling the basin. The water rose slowly. It was all Atiana could do to control her breathing. She managed to only by telling herself that once she entered the dark her body would become a faint memory.

  Until she woke…

  But she would deal with that when the time came.

  The basin full, Atiana stepped inside. The cold clawed at her feet and ankles and calves. She knew it was foolish to enter the basin in slow increments, so she laid back until it was up to her neck. She grew rigid from it, her muscles rigoring painfully. Her left foot began to cramp. She flexed her toes against the pain as the breathing tube was pressed into her mouth. She drew in desperate lungfuls of air through the tube as her body screamed at her to rise from the basin, to extricate herself from the water’s iron grip.

  But she could not allow such thoughts to control her. She was Vostroman.

  She would not bend.

  She slowed her breathing, relaxed muscles so tense they were nearing the breaking point. Her skin became numb, and at the same time-as it had so many years ago-the aether began to suffuse her frame, providing a subtle warmth that was not unlike those first sips of mulled vodka after hours in the howling winter wind.

  Her body lost its tension, lending her a confidence that had been lacking, but she knew this was the time she had to be most careful, for before she knew it-

  Her eyes, clenched tightly, lose the telltale signs of light. Her stomach sinks. She hears nothing save the low susurrus of the aether and the currents of the dark. She sees one bright light among the endless sea of midnight blue surrounding her. It is Saphia, the Matra, still strong, still caressing the dark as if she could submerge herself at any time she chose. There is a weariness in her, a fatigue that cannot come from mere sleeplessness. It is a wonder she can function at all, much less enter the dark and guide the flow of its currents.

  Atiana leaves the Matra, not wishing to tax her unnecessarily-indeed, not wishing to touch the physical world so soon after leaving it. Such a thing can be dangerous, especially for one such as her.

  She expands her sphere of awareness and senses the servant woman, though only vaguely, as one knows that someone is near upon waking. She sees the rook on its perch clearly, and if she so chose she could assume its form, but she has not done so in years and there are risks with even a small thing such
as this. She senses the roots of the spire, which run deep beneath the obelisk, and then the spire itself, towering above Radiskoye like a stern and overprotective parent. The aether licks at the spire as if it were curious over its existence, but like a ship too bold for its own good, it is caught in the maelstrom and pulled down into the depths of the mountain.

  She sees the people spread throughout the palotza, all of them small, meaningless, like flies buzzing over fruit. She senses the dogs in their kennels, the ponies in their stalls, the rats running through the walls of the palotza, even the bitterly cold trees and grasses that blanket the island. The city of Volgorod and the Landless village of Iramanshah enter her consciousness like dim candles in a misty bog filled with countless, twinkling wisps. The island itself, now that her mind has expanded, has an ebb and flow. It has life, little different from the body floating in the drowning basin deep beneath the spire.

  When her awareness expands to the sea, she recalls the warnings of her mother. A realization grows. She is granting too much to the aether, but the will to heed those warnings begins to wane, while the desire to lose herself in the vibrant currents grows.

  The ocean teems with life. Fish and coral and mollusks and the great white goedrun that make long sea voyages so difficult. And the air. Though the sun has yet to rise, and the winds are high, there are thousands of gulls swooping along the southern cliffs, diving for fish. Grouse are sleeping in their nests. Owls continue to hunt.

  She knows that she is becoming lost, that she is coming ever closer to the point where she will no longer be able to return to her body, but she has lost the will to care. The life and death surrounding her is too beautiful for her to willingly turn her eyes away.

  And then a note-the pluck of a single harp string-calls to her. She senses, among the chaos, the minds of the other Matri. She feels them supporting her, willing her return. They are too distant to offer much beyond this, but the realization that they are there is enough. She draws herself inward, focusing more closely on the spire.